About Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh

The HOLY EASTERN ORTHODOX CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC CHURCH in NORTH AMERICA®

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Comments about mis-information refer to pages on Orthodox Wiki under the
names American Orthodox Catholic Church and Aftimios Ofiesh.

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Aftimios Ofiesh (1880-1966), Abdullah Aftimios Ofiesh, was an early 20th
century Orthodox bishop in America, serving as the immediate successor to St.
Raphael of Brooklyn under the auspices of the Church of Russia. He held the
title Bishop of Brooklyn from 1917 until April of 1933, when he married, thus
deposing himself from the episcopacy. It is claimed that many in the independent
movement received their lines of succession of episcopi vagantes from +Aftimios
and that he led the American Orthodox Catholic Church from 1927 until his death
in 1966.

Following the untimely death of St. Raphael of Brooklyn in 1915,
Archimandrite Aftimios (Ofiesh) was elected to serve as his replacement in
caring for the Arab Orthodox faithful in America under the Church of Russia's
canonical authority. He was consecrated by Archbishop Evdokim (Meschersky)as an
auxiliary bishop in 1917 with the title of Bishop of Brooklyn. In 1923, in
recognition for his work in America, he was elevated by Metropolitan Platon
(Rozhdestvensky) of New York to the rank of Archbishop.

In 1924, in the canonical chaos of American Orthodoxy following the onset of
the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Arab Orthodox faithful split into two
factions, one which wished to go under the canonical authority of the Church of
Antioch and another which wished to stay faithful to the Church of Russia. The
former group was organized by Bishop Victor (Abu Assaly) of New York, thus
beginning the official presence of the Church of Antioch on American soil.

In 1927, Aftimios was Canonically commissioned by the Russian diocese in
America to form an English speaking "American Orthodox Catholic Church,".
+Aftimios consecrated three bishops for his new jurisdiction, Sophronius
(Beshara) of Los Angeles, Joseph (Zuk) for the Ukrainians, and Ignatius (William
Albert) Nichols in September of 1932 as his auxiliary bishop of Washington.
Additionally the Society of Clerks Secular of St. Basil was established under
the auspices of this diocese.

In 1932, Archbishop Aftimios was invited to come to St. Mary's Syrian
Orthodox Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to arbitrate a dispute regarding
the transfer of its priest, Fr. Constantine Abou-Adal. When Fr. Constantine left
St. Mary's in November of 1932, the parish was without a pastor, and so
Archbishop Aftimios served in that capacity until February of 1933, organizing a
choir and Sunday School at the parish. During this time, he met and became
involved with one of St. Mary's parishioners, Mariam Namey, then subsequently
married her in a civil ceremony in April of 1933.

False reports vary at this point as to what happened regarding Aftimios'
episcopacy. According to the parish records of St. Mary's, he "was retired" and
lived in nearby Kingston until his death. With the withdrawal of support for the
American Orthodox Catholic Church, it lost its canonical status. According to
the book Orthodox Christians in North America (1794-1994), however, Aftimios
"resigned his episcopacy and married." According to others it is claimed
+Aftimios excommunicated himself by his marriage. All 3 claims are in fact
false.

One of the groups which now traces itself to Aftimios characterizes the
situation differently: "We are now a Patriarchate and under Patriarch Nikon of
the American Orthodox Patriarchate. The Patriarch is the head of this Church
today. The ethnic orthodox bodies all uncanonically turned their backs on this
Church and use the marriage of Abp. Aftimios as the reason, although most had
already refused to recognize this Church and its authority in the New World."

Whatever the case, relations between this small canonically established
jurisdiction and the mainstream Orthodox Church were never regularized. Since
that time, numerous and still multiplying lines of succession of episcopi
vagantes continue to persist which claim to trace their roots to Aftimios
(mainly through Ignatius Nichols), many of whom regard him as a saint. Some of
those bishops are married men, as well, which is a continual stumbling block to
their unity with the mainstream Church, which has for centuries maintained a
celibate episcopacy.

Following his death in 1966 at age 85, Aftimios was buried in Maple Hill
Cemetery across from St. Mary's Orthodox Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre. His widow
Mariam subsequently wrote his biography, published in 1999.

The biography by Ofiesh's widow Mariam claims that Aftimios fully intended to
function as a married bishop, having that intent even before he met Mariam.

Many of these independent groups use names which are similar to mainstream
groups but they are usually not affiliated with any canonical body in any way.
The American Orthodox Catholic Church, mentioned above as an eparchy ruled by
Archbishop Aftimios has no connection with any of the independent jursdictions.
The American Orthodox Catholic Church is the continuation of the One true
American Orthodox Catholic Church headed by Abp Ofiesh from 1927 to 1966. The
proof is in our documentation as posted on theocacna.us. The ethnic
jurisdictions who ignred this Church and Abp. Ofiesh as well as those who
continue to attack this Church with lies and false information as well as
continue to attack +Aftimios over 40 years after his death are in Schism with
the American Church and continue to offer invalid sacraments to their laity
while attempting to hide their uncanonical schismatic activities.

Since no tribunal was ever called against Abp. Ofiesh there was never any
canonical authority to act against him in any way. All claims made that Abp.
Ofiesh was deposed, resigned, retired or was suspended are only speculation by,
for the most part, scoba-ethnic clergy who attempt to discredit this Churh and
clergy in an effort to mislead people into believing this Church no longer
exists and that their Church is the true American Orthodox Church today - which
of course is false.